The Kidnapping and Murder of Little Skeegie Cash: J. Edgar Hoover and Florida's Lindbergh Case

Preface

Preface in 1939, “Murderer’s Row” at florida Prison farm consisted of six steel cages. Called death cells, they stood in a compound separate from the main housing unit.The prison, located near a backwater town called Raiford, had been designated the state’s execution facility since florida’s legislature abolished hanging in 1922.1 inside a chamber barely ten feet away from the death cells,“old Sparky,”the electric chair, crouched like a foreboding, fire-breathing monster. its leather straps, metal clamps, and hard-edged oak slats no doubt haunted the nightmares of many inmates waiting to be consumed by it.2 franklin Pierce McCall, twenty-one, was one of those condemned souls. on february 24,1939,at eleven o’clock in the morning,surrounded by guards and other prison staff, he began the walk from Cell number one into the death chamber.3 Less than a year before, McCall had kidnapped and murdered five-yearold James bailey Cash Jr.,nicknamed “Skeegie.”There was no doubt as to his guilt.he’d confessed and led fbi agents to two different sites where he’d hidden portions of the ransom money. he’d guided none other than media star J. edgar hoover through a maze of swamps to the boy’s body in the everglades . he’d pled guilty at his trial, providing details that could have been known only to the killer.4 finally, in a letter written to his mother, McCall admitted the crime and claimed to have made peace with God.5 A few weeks before his execution date, however, he’d begun proclaiming his innocence. Led to the chair by guards and followed by a chaplain intoning the Lord’s Prayer,McCall sat down and began reading a final statement.6 “Judas iscariot betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver,” he read, his na- x / Preface sal Cracker accent echoing through the room. “it would be interesting to know just how much some received who were instrumental in this presentday cruelty. i hope that i may be excused from drawing a parallel between the Master’s death and my own, [but] the Master died for a cause while i am dying for nothing.”7 McCall knew his scripture. his father and brother were gospel preachers , and other members of his family were reputable, church-going people. he alone had strayed from the faith. Leonard C. Chapman, superintendent of prisons, stood next to McCall, listening patiently. About fifty spectators sat in high-backed chairs against the far wall. A wooden partition separated them from the prisoner. Witnesses included newspaper reporters, lawmen who’d investigated the case, and a couple of Skeegie’s relatives. Conspicuously missing were the murdered boy’s still-grieving parents and family members of the condemned.8 by now, McCall was on a roll. “one of the most horrible aspects of this case,” he continued, “is the precedent it has established. for in this regard, matters of far more importance than my life were at stake. to be explicit, that infinite something called justice.”9 The convicted killer added that he opposed the death penalty because “it does not deter crime.” however, he said he’d rather die than spend another year in prison “unjustly.”10 McCall ended by unequivocally stating that he was innocent of the murder and hinting that dark forces had framed him.11 When he finished reading, he handed his notes to Chaplain Leslie Shepherd.12 Grim-faced, the superintendent nodded to prison staff and moved away. two guards began strapping McCall’s arms and legs to the chair, cinching the buckles tight. An assistant rolled up the prisoner’s left trouser leg and attached an electrode to his thigh.13 one of the guards removed McCall’s hat, placing a bowl-shaped helmet over his freshly shaved head. inside the helmet, a copper cylinder fit snugly against the prisoner’s skull.This device was designed to direct a surge of electricity into his body. if all went as planned, the current would instantly fry the condemned man’s brain and cause massive organ failure.14 Power for the conductor came through a gray electric cord that snaked along the floor and connected to three ceiling-high plywood cabinets standing against the back wall.These units contained a wild jumble of wires, out- Preface / xi lets,plugs,sockets,and other apparatus that somehow, time and again,completed their...